Walter Meekes in Peru

My first meeting with Walter

The HoPe Foundation was established in 1991 by Walter and his then wife, Tineke Griffioen, and focuses, amongst other things, on developing education in the remote mountain villages around Cuzco. In 2010, I got to know Walter well in person whilst preparing for the Panamericana Roadtrip, during which, the following year, we drove 83 classic Volvos from the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, to the Colombian city of Cartagena de Indias. As we had linked the HoPe Foundation to this trip as a ‘charity’, Walter was invited to tell us more about his work in Peru. After the meeting, we were chatting for a while when he asked me if I’d already finalised my support team. He saw himself as the missing link, and I didn’t have to think twice about it, as I couldn’t imagine a better team member. He spoke fluent Spanish, knew the culture, knew how to organise things, and I knew that he’d worked as a trip guide before settling permanently in Peru in 1991. What’s more, Walter turned out to be a really nice bloke and a huge music fan, so I was happy to have him along in the car.

HoPe Foundation – Holanda Peru

In the early 1990s, Peru was ravaged by extreme and senseless violence between terrorist groups on the one hand and the army and police on the other. No one knew who was friend or foe, and no one’s life was safe in the dirty war being waged across the country. It was during this time that the HoPe Holanda-Peru Foundation was established. Peruvians living in conditions of extreme poverty had hardly any opportunities to improve their own situation, but were keen to do so. The Dutch nationals Tineke Griffioen and Walter Meekes came to live in Cuzco at that time to support and further expand the community initiative.

During the first seven years, under the leadership of Tineke and Walter, projects were carried out in the deprived neighbourhoods themselves. Schools were set up and supported. Water mains and sewerage systems were installed. In a soup kitchen, the mothers worked alongside Tineke every day to prepare healthy and nutritious meals for more than 100 children. The children and women made products that were sold through fair-trade shops in the Netherlands. This enabled them to escape extreme poverty.

Lessons in Quechua and Spanish

From 1997 onwards, the focus shifted from the outskirts of Cuzco to the indigenous villages in the Andes. The indigenous villages had little or no access to education. The HoPe Foundation has built more than 160 schools, the majority in remote mountain villages. A four- to five-hour walk to visit a village was not unusual. To reach one village, the foundation’s staff even had to walk for seven hours. Thanks to the HoPe Foundation, thousands of children from remote areas have gained access to good primary and secondary education.

The schools were fitted with toilets and showers with hot water powered by solar energy. More than 200 schools were provided with good-quality school furniture. The tables and chairs were made by the pupils themselves at the HoPe technical school. The HoPe Foundation developed a bilingual, intercultural education programme. This is based on the indigenous villages’ own languages and cultures. Teaching methods and learning materials were drawn up in Quechua and Spanish. It is no coincidence that Quechua is also the language from which Sapa Pana Travel (your unique journey) takes its name.

Towards good education

Nowadays, the government has taken over virtually all of the HoPe Foundation’s educational programmes. It promotes bilingual, intercultural education and publishes its own teaching materials in the various languages spoken in Peru. HoPe focuses on improving the quality of state education.